Hi, Lisa. Appreciating your way of showing up authentically in this space. Social media breaks have been so supportive to me in recent months, lifting a weight I didn’t even realize was pressing down on me until it was removed. And I wasn’t even posting, just following a small number of accounts that felt inspiring or supportive! Still, pausing that consumption opened more space in my life--to breathe, to experience, to just be.
This resonates so deeply Lisa. I have been taking each Mercury Rx off social media for a month and it does wonders for my soul. With this, I have also decided to share less of my life online and spend more time experiencing it. Sometimes I wish I had captured a photo or two for myself, but I am much more content being present in the moment. Having a young teen who is pretty glued to her phone at the moment, I will need to consider ways that I can show her the ease that comes with allowing your mind space to breathe away from a device.
"I know this isn’t the most profound or insightful newsletter" ... oh my dear I beg to differ! I've read a lot of articles and posts about doing a social media break. I've done them myself and written about them in the past ... but never has the shifting emotions and experience of relief and realization been better summarized in your list. I read it 3 times over and I couldn't even focus on one point to comment about. So much of it hit me in the chest.
I keep coming back to "And… because I spent 4.5 years sharing on Instagram, my writing and self have been watered down. Some of my creativity has been taken over by external pressures to conform, to be palatable, to be for everyone." Holy shit yes! I stopped writing a blog for this very reason. Always focusing on SEO and keywords made me queasy and hate writing. Being on Substack (and trying to be here even more than on Instagram) has helped me open up to narrative nonfiction more than ever before.
I have been inspired by your Sunday Emails to start moving away from social media and reconnect with my forever passion for writing. I have started my own newsletter routine here on Substack and shared with my people reasons I have started doing so that are very similar to some of your realizations.
I think social media is now serving a very different purpose than the one I used to seek when I first started to use it.
As a professional community building specialist, I find it more and more important to build communities through the power of an experience sharing act that creates authentic connections. Social media is increasingly detaching from this scheme and feeling inadequate to serve the purpose of connecting people around experiences.
I love my content routine here on Substack. It feels intimate, curated and so enriching. I love the slowness and the quality. Your emails have been such a critical inspiration for me to revisit my communication/connection/content practice and I am immensely grateful for it!
Keep sharing your magic, we’ll love to welcome it in any form it will come ❤️
I love your substack for the exact reason you love them, because we can linger and carve out intentional time to do one thing and be all there. And god do I love longer form. Lately I find IG boring, actually, which is sort of funny. Just endless ads and content for content's sake. And my lack of interest is pretty damn freeing.
From your #14 "...caring less (trying to, at least) about creating viral “content” and more about being a whole human who is multidimensional — being less confined to what is “popular” and expanding into what feels good, true, and meaningful." Please be as much of yourself as you feel like sharing. Your multidimesional self is exactly why I'm here.
As for your book #2 mention, I insert a happy dance here :]
I think this is one of my favorite newsletters. Thank you for sharing glimpses into your life, your thoughts and feelings. Thank you for being authentic. It is refreshing and genuine. I appreciate you!
I really really appreciate this piece so much! I have currently been wrestling with how to grow a business without social media. I don’t like how it pulls me away from the present so much. Thank you for sharing your journey and perspective.
This is the much needed push to set some boundaries with myself and my social media time. #2 is so intriguing to me because I always wondered how people did it before social media. I can relate to many points you made because I felt the same way with photography, that I needed to start creating things based on what other people enjoyed seeing. Thank you ♡
Thank you, Lisa - This newsletter felt like a letter I received from an old friend across the ocean, telling me about her life. And if even for a second, I felt that stillness you describe, very similar to how I felt growing up in the 90's, doing one thing at a time.
This resonated so much with me - thank you for the reminders! Stepping away from social media feels so much harder than I think it should, but this is inspiring me to keep trying.
Hello Lisa, I also just finished a month-long social media break (so delicious!) and am asking myself questions about how to use it well. I’m also in the position of needing to use social media as a tool for my writing, but I have such a hard time finding a sustainable and manageable place for it in my life. I greatly appreciated your list - lots of good food for thought! 💛
Thank you for sharing and for the encouragement to go for it. I have been feeling this all so deeply and appreciate you vulnerably offering up your truths and experiences. ♥️
Hi, Lisa. Appreciating your way of showing up authentically in this space. Social media breaks have been so supportive to me in recent months, lifting a weight I didn’t even realize was pressing down on me until it was removed. And I wasn’t even posting, just following a small number of accounts that felt inspiring or supportive! Still, pausing that consumption opened more space in my life--to breathe, to experience, to just be.
This resonates so deeply Lisa. I have been taking each Mercury Rx off social media for a month and it does wonders for my soul. With this, I have also decided to share less of my life online and spend more time experiencing it. Sometimes I wish I had captured a photo or two for myself, but I am much more content being present in the moment. Having a young teen who is pretty glued to her phone at the moment, I will need to consider ways that I can show her the ease that comes with allowing your mind space to breathe away from a device.
Loving your new newsletter and the way you are showing up without artifice or bullshit. It’s inspiring.
"I know this isn’t the most profound or insightful newsletter" ... oh my dear I beg to differ! I've read a lot of articles and posts about doing a social media break. I've done them myself and written about them in the past ... but never has the shifting emotions and experience of relief and realization been better summarized in your list. I read it 3 times over and I couldn't even focus on one point to comment about. So much of it hit me in the chest.
I keep coming back to "And… because I spent 4.5 years sharing on Instagram, my writing and self have been watered down. Some of my creativity has been taken over by external pressures to conform, to be palatable, to be for everyone." Holy shit yes! I stopped writing a blog for this very reason. Always focusing on SEO and keywords made me queasy and hate writing. Being on Substack (and trying to be here even more than on Instagram) has helped me open up to narrative nonfiction more than ever before.
Hi Lisa,
I have been inspired by your Sunday Emails to start moving away from social media and reconnect with my forever passion for writing. I have started my own newsletter routine here on Substack and shared with my people reasons I have started doing so that are very similar to some of your realizations.
I think social media is now serving a very different purpose than the one I used to seek when I first started to use it.
As a professional community building specialist, I find it more and more important to build communities through the power of an experience sharing act that creates authentic connections. Social media is increasingly detaching from this scheme and feeling inadequate to serve the purpose of connecting people around experiences.
I love my content routine here on Substack. It feels intimate, curated and so enriching. I love the slowness and the quality. Your emails have been such a critical inspiration for me to revisit my communication/connection/content practice and I am immensely grateful for it!
Keep sharing your magic, we’ll love to welcome it in any form it will come ❤️
I love your substack for the exact reason you love them, because we can linger and carve out intentional time to do one thing and be all there. And god do I love longer form. Lately I find IG boring, actually, which is sort of funny. Just endless ads and content for content's sake. And my lack of interest is pretty damn freeing.
From your #14 "...caring less (trying to, at least) about creating viral “content” and more about being a whole human who is multidimensional — being less confined to what is “popular” and expanding into what feels good, true, and meaningful." Please be as much of yourself as you feel like sharing. Your multidimesional self is exactly why I'm here.
As for your book #2 mention, I insert a happy dance here :]
I think this is one of my favorite newsletters. Thank you for sharing glimpses into your life, your thoughts and feelings. Thank you for being authentic. It is refreshing and genuine. I appreciate you!
I really really appreciate this piece so much! I have currently been wrestling with how to grow a business without social media. I don’t like how it pulls me away from the present so much. Thank you for sharing your journey and perspective.
Thank you, Lisa, for showing us what is possible. You are a beacon of hope.
This is the much needed push to set some boundaries with myself and my social media time. #2 is so intriguing to me because I always wondered how people did it before social media. I can relate to many points you made because I felt the same way with photography, that I needed to start creating things based on what other people enjoyed seeing. Thank you ♡
Thank you, Lisa - This newsletter felt like a letter I received from an old friend across the ocean, telling me about her life. And if even for a second, I felt that stillness you describe, very similar to how I felt growing up in the 90's, doing one thing at a time.
Oh, Lisa. What you share is such medicine. Thank you for being so attuned to your own healing, and to the nourishment your soul needs.
This resonated so much with me - thank you for the reminders! Stepping away from social media feels so much harder than I think it should, but this is inspiring me to keep trying.
Hello Lisa, I also just finished a month-long social media break (so delicious!) and am asking myself questions about how to use it well. I’m also in the position of needing to use social media as a tool for my writing, but I have such a hard time finding a sustainable and manageable place for it in my life. I greatly appreciated your list - lots of good food for thought! 💛
I love this
Thank you for sharing and for the encouragement to go for it. I have been feeling this all so deeply and appreciate you vulnerably offering up your truths and experiences. ♥️